Pu'uloa Springs Scholarship

Growing up in Oahu, I always admired the beauty of beaches and parks all over the island. As a kid, I loved going to the beach, swimming around, and drinking the seawater as my mom yelled at me not to. Nearby, I could always hear my aunties and uncles cooking up some barbecue and cracking beers together, always having a good time. The playgrounds at the parks in my hometown enticed me to keep crying to my mom to stay there for hours. The new friends I would make there too would also persuade me to want to stay. To me, beaches and parks are places where we can let go. These are places where we can have a good time and get to know people better. The stress of our lives instantly vanishes the moment I arrive at a beach or park with friends and family. This is one of the main reasons why I joined Interact Club and started helping out at the Pu’uloa cleanups. Blaisdell Park was actually a place where my preschool would frequently play around at. The memories I cherish from preschool involve that same park where I helped clean up today. I hope that by helping clean up the area, the park can potentially be a place where kids can play around in, make great memories, and just overall be a sacred place for everyone, just like how it’s a sacred place for me even after all these years. I hope that other beaches, parks, and shared community spaces on the island can be sacred places for people to enjoy themselves. No matter where I go to college, I want to continue to carry this mindset. I want to make sure the new community spaces I visit are sacred places people enjoy. When I go to college, I want to volunteer at local beaches and parks. If I end up staying at UH Manoa, I hope to help clean the very beaches I used to love going to as a kid. If I end up moving off the island, I hope to volunteer at local organizations around my campus to make a difference in the environment. Even though I want to move out for college, I have to rely heavily on financial aid. My family can only pay so much for my education that I need to step up to find ways to cover my cost of attendance. I hope to gather as many scholarships and financial aid as possible so that my parents do not need to worry about paying for college and can instead focus on my 3 other siblings and their schooling.